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Yasi spares life, crushes communities

Jessica Marszalek and Steve Gray

The monstrous Cyclone Yasi may have spared life and limb but it has crushed north Queensland communities with a brute force that'll be remembered for decades by those who cowered through it.

As a category five, Yasi is the biggest cyclone in living memory and the first to travel 700 kilometres inland.

It may yet reach Mt Isa, a further 200km to the west.

Promising catastrophe to life and property alike, the eye of Cyclone Yasi smashed into the coast between Innisfail and Cardwell early Thursday morning, fulfilling its threat to wreak havoc.

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With wind gusts at an estimated 290km/h, Yasi terrified north Queenslanders as it passed over communities, showing up 2006's category four system Cyclone Larry.

Mercifully, it appears, no lives were lost, although Premier Anna Bligh was still refusing to rule out the possibility on Thursday afternoon as she toured the decimated area.

She said it was "totally remarkable" that the damage, while bad, was not worse.

"We, at this stage, don't have any reports of serious injuries and fatalities but I stress there are still places we haven't had emergency workers in to," she told reporters in Townsville.

"Even in some of these towns we're out and about checking homes and it's too early to rule out we might have some sad news in the next couple of days."

The cyclone comes on top of some of the worst flooding seen in the state that devastated central and southern Queensland in December and January.

The damage bill, likely to be in the billions, is still being counted as the storm moves its way across the state and authorities enter the badly-hit communities left behind.

The storm surge and the destruction left in Yasi's path made it hard for authorities to gauge how many homes and buildings had been damaged in the worst hit zones.

Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts said aerial teams had returned an initial report of 210 damaged homes at Cardwell, 22 at Mission Beach and 52 at Tully Heads. Crews had not yet been able to access Silkwood, Halifax, Lucinda or Taylors Beach.

"Until we get people on the ground making assessments property by property, they are preliminary assessments," Mr Roberts told reporters.

"But I think that does give an indication that there is quite significant structural damage to properties, particularly in the area where the cyclone crossed the coast."

Telecommunications and electricity equipment has been destroyed and roads washed away.

Telstra reported 25 mobile phone towers had been broken, mostly around the Innisfail and Ingham areas, and 450 points on the network from Mackay to Cairns have no mains power.

Ten thousand landlines are down, and that's not including individual service faults.

The electricity supply line taking power into coastal communities south of Innisfail has been cut.

Authorities say it could take weeks to fully restore electricity and phones.

The region's major agricultural industries - sugar and banana - have been badly affected, with many crops destroyed for the second time in five years.

Early estimates are that 75 per cent of the nation's banana supply and half the region's sugarcane have been wrecked.

Throughout Thursday, Yasi continued to plunder its way inland, eventually fading to a category one, headed for Julia Creek and Mt Isa.

In Julia Creek, local mayor Paul Woodhouse said it was the first time in recorded history an active cyclone had made it that far.

"Everyone's a little bit surprised. It's the first category one cyclone, or formal cyclone, we've had out here. So, everyone's a little bit curious, but also cautious," he told AAP.

Police in Mt Isa warned the populace against complacency because, to many, the possibility of the inland mining city being hit by a cyclone was incomprehensible.

"Once the weather system's here we want everyone secured and stay in place as this weather event moves through, and that might be up to a day," Superintendent Ray Pringle.